Daring Last Lap Pass Keeps Keysor’s USA Streak Alive

Brad Keysor Passes Dave Ohh on Last Lap and Wins Fourth Feature in a Row in Florida Speedweeks Competition at USA International Speedway

February 8, 2024 – Lakeland, FL…In a thrilling no holds barred move, Brad Keysor made a daring last lap pass on Dave Ohh to win his fourth consecutive Supermodified Ultimate Pavement Racing Series, (SUPRS) Florida Speedweeks feature event on Thursday at USA International Speedway. What makes win even more incredible is that he started eighth, then had to come from the back after an early race spin. Keysor is now the winningest driver in the history of SUPRS at the big Lakeland oval.

Dave Ohh could only watch in amazement as Keysor used Ohh’s own ‘win it or wreck it’ last lap mentality to beat the reigning Speedweeks champion to the finish by just a tenth of a second. Second year driver, Daniel Nans led six laps and was ecstatic to claim his first SUPRS rFactor podium.

Comfortable Feeling Uncomfortable

“First off, thanks to 1^st to Finish Race Servers, BreezeGraphics.com, Hairbag Studios, Icings on Top and of course BMK Logistics and Chasing Cameras,” said Keysor. “I had to come through the field tonight and that’s terrifying in a 25 lap race. You really have to go further into the corner than what you feel comfortable doing, and you just have to trust the guy under you not to come up.”

Keysor explained his last lap effort to steal the win from Ohh saying that Ohh is one of those guys that has a real race presence of mind. “I knew with 2 to go that I had a great run on Dave, but I knew that if I tried him then, he’d come right back so I had to get let up and wait until one to go,” he said.

Since 2020, Brad Keysor has never finished outside of the top two at USA. Yet he can’t really put his finger on what makes him so good on the 3/4 mile. “I’m not really sure what it is about this place,” he said thoughtfully. “I really like it here because to be fast you really have to commit. It was a fun race.”

Getting a monster run was only the beginning of the masterful pass and Keysor acknowledged that Ohh made it easier by not throwing a block. “If Dave had thrown the block we were both done,” he stated. “I was going and Dave could have blocked me or done the snake, but he held his line.”

Ohh wasn’t the only driver Keysor had accolades for and made a point of congratulating Daniel Nans who had a stellar finish at USA.

“Hats off to Daniel on a great run tonight,” Keysor said. “I had to really pin him down to get him. Credit to him, he wasn’t leaving any room on the bottom, and he was pushing up just enough to break my momentum. I knew I had to use the top and each lap I’d move him down a little more so I could get the run off. I think while we were doing that we were just able to keep Dave close and it helped me in the end because I think Dave stopped weaving to break the draft.”

For Nans, a big sigh of relief was in order After having a tough Speedweeks so far, Daniel Nans could breath a welcome, and well-deserved sigh of relief after his third place finish that garnered praise from nearly all of his fellow SUPRS racers. “This is pretty great,” said the driver of the Nans Bros. Racing entry. “I got a set-up before the start that was Brad’s and it’s what helped me do really well with Brad and Dave. It was a pretty fun race.”

Enjoy SUPRS Florida Speedweeks Gallery

[Show as slideshow]

Keysor’s Impressive Stats

Keysor is one of the four drivers to have multiple supermodified wins at USA International Speedway. Florida Speedweeks Champions, Ray Sand, Jr. has three and John Davidson and Keith Powell have two USA wins.

With his win, Keysor has now moved to fourth on the All-Time Speedweeks win list with six total. He is just one checkered flag away from tying the guy that got him started in SUPRS, Rob Warren who has seven Speedweeks wins.

Slow Start Leads to Fast Finish

The race got off to a very inauspicious start when Keysor got into the back of Ryan Cloonan entering turn one as Cloonan was hard on the brakes trying not to crash into Pole Sitter Gary Waldron. Cloonan shot to the outside wall and demolished his Simibility.com roadster. With SUPRS Florida Speedweeks rules stating that there would be no reboots of the server for a bad initial start, Cloonan was out of luck and done for the night while Keysor was sent to back.

Just a lap or two after the field took the green flag for the second time, Carl Becker spun and was done. Brad Keysor also spun out and stayed at the back of the field. The race went green for the next seven laps when the caution flag flew for contact between Zach Sears and Gary Waldron. Four laps after the restart, Anthony Corsoniti was around and he was sent to the back. Finally, with the race just past half-way, the green flag never left the flagman’s hand and the race went the distance which gave Keysor time to come through the field and take the win.

Keysor Fastest in Qualifying

Brad Keysor was at the top of the qualifying charts at USA again, but fell just shy of breaking his own track record of 14.539 seconds when he stopped the clocks with a 14.570 run. Dave Ohh was second quick just a tick behind Keysor with a time of 14.593. Unlike last year when the top four were in the 14 second bracket, this year Keysor and Ohh were the only ones that get down there. Anthony Corsoniti and Ryan Cloonan qualified third and fourth respectively with some 15 flats, while Keith Powell slotted into fifth place with a 15.474.

Daniel Nans, Danny Ray, and Gary Waldron all made it into the Elite 8 and locked themselves into eligibility for the feature inversion redraw.

Keysor’s Been Here Before

Brad Keysor is back in familiar Florida territory as he heads into the last race of the week looking for the Speedweeks treasure. Each time he’s been here, he’s come up short, except in 2022 when he won the SUPRS Florida Speedweeks Championship.

This year, Keysor goes into the final race at 5-Flags on Friday with a minuscule 10 point lead over Zach Sears. The easiest route to a second SUPRS Florida Speedweeks Championship is to just finish in front of Sears regardless of the actual position, even if Sears is right on his tail at the checkers. If Sears finishes in front of Keysor, it can’t be more than two places or Keysor will have lost another Speedweeks Championship on the last night of the swing. If the pair end up tied in points, Keysor would take the crown because he has two wins, to Sears one.

“I’m 10 up on Zach, but you just never know what will happen at 5-Flags,” said the 2022 Florida Speedweeks champ. I think I have a pretty good car, especially through three and four with the bump, but that bump can be tricky.”

Keysor knows the drill because he’s been there many times since SUPRS first race at 5-Flags in 2018. I’ll start no better than eighth so in theory Zach would be next to me at the start. I just have to get as far up the field as I can and keep the gap as big as I can to cover him.”

Mathematical Chance for Gangwer

While the real battle for Florida supremacy is between the top two, Bob Gangwer has parlayed his second place finish at Black Creek on Night 2 into a slim chance at winning his first Speedweeks championship, and comes into the Speedweeks finale’ third in the overall points. A miracle of nearly Biblical proportions will have to happen for the RW Woodworking sponsored racer to overcome the 40 point deficit he has to Keysor.

Gangwer has been run well enough in Time Trials to make the Elite 8 all but one night, and while not even close in speed to what Sears and Keysor have been able to lay down in qualifying, he simply has to be one of the fastest eight in order to take advantage of the Feature Inversion which calls for the starting grid for the 50 lap feature to be set by Speedweeks points. He’ll find himself in the same pack as Keysor and Sears in the middle of the field, but likely in the row just in front of the top two.

Once locked into the grid, Gangwer will have to win the race and hope that Keysor finishes no better than ninth, and that the best Sears can muster is seventh. That would give Gangwer the win over Keysor or Sears by five points. If Keysor finishes eighth or Sears sixth, Gangwer would end Speedweeks tied with either and would almost certainly lose on a tie-breaker.

5 Flags Finale’

The SUPRS drivers are headed to 5 Flags Speedway in Pensacola, FL for the fifth and final night of SUPRS Florida Speedweeks 2024 is Friday February 9. This track is most well-known for holding the famous Snowball Derby every year, but has also seen it’s fair share of supermodified racing throughout its history.

The SUPRS Speedweeks finale’ at 5 Flags has traditionally been one of the cleanest of the week with few slow downs due to cautions. In the five times that SUPRS races have been contested at 5 Flags, only 10 cautions in 300 laps completed have been recorded.

The last night of the five night swing has also been one of speed. Since 2018 when Keith Powell established the track record for supermodifieds at 5-Flags in 2018 with a lap of 14.222 seconds, it has been lowered five consecutive times. Brad Keysor broke Powell’s record, then Dave “SpeedyMan” Ohh broke Keysor’s 2019 mark of 14.174 seconds. He went on to break his own record in 2021 and 2022. Then last year, Keysor took the honors back with a lap of 13.429 seconds.

Until 2022 when Dave Ohh won for the second time, a different driver had visited victory lane each time a SUPRS feature was completed at 5-Flags. The other winners include Kyle Clark(2018), Rob Warren(2019), and Brad Keysor(2020).

Other notable 5-Flags stats include:

• 2018-Fastest Race-12:14.567
• 2019-Largest Margin of Victory-Rob Warren winner by 3.829 seconds
• 2020-Brad Keysor passes Dave Ohh with four laps to go and wins.
• 2021-Slowest Race-18.54.814
• 2022-First 23 laps green-the most prior to a caution
• 2023-Closest Margin of Victory-Brad Keysor winner by .071 seconds

****SUPRS Florida Speedweeks 2024 Schedule****

Remaining Race:

————————————

Friday 02/09/2024

SUPRS Florida Speedweeks Race 5

• Track: 5 Flags Speedway-by RFN-50 laps-½ Mile
• Platform: rFactor
• Mod: SUPRS W v8 mod 
• 8:00pm Practice
• 8:10pm Drivers’ Meeting
• 8:20pm Time Trials
• 8:30pm Racing
• Current Track Record: Brad Keysor; 13.429 sec.; Set: 02/10/2023(rF)
• Defending Race Winner: Brad Keysor

Special Notes:

• All-Skate Practice
• Pits Closed during caution until opened by Race Control, except to pull off track. Cars may not re-enter track from pits once white flag is shown.
• Elite 8 qualifiers inverted for feature based on SUPRS Florida Speedweeks points standings after four races.